1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pickup truck load organizers and more particularly to a new tail gate load organizing device for allowing items longer than a pickup truck box floor to be carried with a tailgate down by moving a supporting point out onto the tailgate.
2. Background Information
The use of pickup truck load organizers is known in the prior art. Examples of pickup truck load organizers include those disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,850; U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,067; U.S. Pat. Des. No. 248,228; U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,096; U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,944; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,993.
Such devices have been devised to solve various drawbacks associated with transporting loads within the beds of pickup trucks. One problem in particular is that of safely and securely transporting elongated loads which are longer than the bed of a pickup truck. Pickup trucks conveniently include a tailgate 4 which may be lowered into an open position to facilitate carrying loads which are longer than the bed 8 of the truck. This approach generally provides satisfactory results when transporting bulky items such as furniture and the like, which can be relatively easily secured to the truck with straps etc., to minimize shifting during transport. This approach however has not proven entirely effective for carrying elongated loose items such as lumber, piping and the like, as they tend to shift laterally and/or slide out of the truck box through the open tailgate during acceleration, etc. In an attempt to reduce or eliminate the possibility of such a load sliding out of the truck bed during transport, it has been common practice among many truck owners to close the tailgate and simply rest such oversized objects on the upper lip or edge of the closed tailgate. While this approach may help prevent the articles from sliding out of the truck bed during transport, this arrangement tends to place a relatively large portion of the carried items above the sides of the pickup truck box to substantially reduce the lateral support provided by the box side walls. Moreover, this approach concentrates a substantial portion of the weight of the load on the upper edge of the tailgate which tends to dent or otherwise damage the upper edge.
Thus, a need exists for a load organizing device for allowing items longer than a pickup truck box floor to be carried.